Military Courts in Rumania Sentence Eight More Zionist Leaders

July 2, 1954

ISTANBUL (Jul. 1)

Eight more Zionist leaders in Rumania have been convicted in separate trials by Rumanian military courts and have been sentenced to varying terms between five and 12 years in prison, it was disclosed here today by Rumanians who have fled the Communist regime. These reports state that three of the eight convicted had been acquitted earlier by similar courts.

Other reports state that dozens more of Jewish communal and Zionist leaders have been arrested in various parts of the country on similar “espionage” charges. They were rounded up in Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, Jassy, Constanza, Galati, Piatra Neamt, Focsani, Arad, Rafauti and Falticeni.

(In Tel Aviv, a call to world public opinion to support Jewry’s demands that the Rumanian Government release imprisoned Zionist and Jewish communal leaders was issued today by the Israel Section of the World Jewish Congress. The call, signed by all Israeli political parties affiliated with the WJC, also urged protests against continuation of persecution and arrests of Rumanian Jews.)